The World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence have just updated their annual ranking of the world’s most competitive ports. At the African level, if the place of the Moroccan port of Tanger Med as the 4th most competitive port in the world is only a confirmation of its status, the presence of the port of Mogadishu in the African Top 5 is a bit of a surprise .
The World Bank and Standard & Poor’s Global Market Intelligence have scrutinized the world’s ports to establish the 4th edition of their annual ranking of the most competitive ports. For this 2023 edition, 405 port establishments appear in the report “The Container Port performance index 2023” which ranks the efficiency of container ports, by measuring the time elapsed between the arrival of a ship at the port and its departure from the berth, once the cargo exchange has been completed. It should be noted that more than 80% of global trade in goods now passes by sea, the efficiency of ports therefore playing a determining role in the development of global trade.
For this edition, more than 182,000 container ship calls were recorded, for 238.2 million container movements.
Port Said (Egypt): Africa’s second largest port handled 3.71 million TEU containers in 2023.
The authors explained in their report that “regional disruptions have affected port performance across the globe.” And like previous editions, it is the ports of East and Southeast Asia that take the lion’s share in the global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), taking 13 of the Top 20 places in the ranking. And to be competitive, ports must invest in resilience, new technologies and green infrastructure.
According to the ranking, at the global level, the Chinese port of Yangshan is the most efficient in the world in 2023, ahead of Salalah in Oman and Cartagena in Colombia.
Behind this trio comes the first most competitive African port, the Moroccan port Tanger Med which confirms its rank in 2023 by maintaining its place as the 4th most competitive port in the world. The Moroccan port, which is among the 25 most active ports in the world in terms of container traffic for the 8th consecutive year, maintains its rank as one of the most efficient ports in the world while its traffic continues to increase.
The presence of the Moroccan port complex in the top places of this ranking is anything but a coincidence. It is explained by the increase in productivity of container terminals for reception, the processing of megaships and high-performance equipment including the largest semi-automated gantry cranes in the world. In 2023, the port recorded record productivity levels exceeding monthly peaks of 800,000 TEUs handled. It recorded the docking of 16,900 ships, an increase of 17% compared to 2022, and handled 8.62 million TEU containers, an increase of 13.4% compared to 2022.
This competitiveness should further boost traffic at the port which is positioned ahead of all the major ports in the Mediterranean basin including Piraeus in Greece, Valencia and Algeciras in Spain… Reason why the Kingdom is continuing the extension of this port whose processing capacity is expected to reach 9 million TEU containers in early 2025, and thus hold the leading port capacity in terms of container processing.
The port of Tanger Med, which positions itself as the main logistics hub in Africa, offers regular maritime connections with more than 186 ports around the world. Its geostrategic location makes it a hub for international trade.
Behind Tangier Med, at the African level, follows Port Said of Egypt. Second African port in terms of container processing and which benefits from the considerable advantage given to it by the Suez Canal, a main axis of maritime navigation, the Egyptian port, while retaining its rank as the second most efficient port in Africa , falls globally from 10th to 16th place in the CPPI ranking between 2022 and 2023. Note that Port Said has a transshipment rate of 85%.
Far behind these two ports comes the port of Berbera in Somaliland. Managed by the Emirati giant DP World, the port of Berbera benefits from significant Emirati investments which wish to make it a real regional hub after losing management of the port of Djibouti.
Located on the banks of the Bab Al Mandab Strait, a route through which 40% of the world’s maritime traffic passes, the Berbera port of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed state, seeks to play a leading role in maritime links between Middle- East and the Horn of Africa.
The surprise of this ranking is certainly the 4th rank of the most competitive ports in Africa occupied by the port of Mogadishu, in Somalia, which ranks 166th in the world. Here too, if the country has been hit by a civil war for decades, the port is being reborn thanks to the Turks. The Turkish Albayrak Group signed a concession in 2014 to manage the port for 20 years and invested to modernize the port. The Turks ensure its management, but also its security following the signing of an economic and defense agreement in April 2024.
Finally, the 5th most competitive port on the African continent is that of Alexandria of Egypt, one of the largest ports on the continent, which ranks 172nd among the most efficient ports in the world.
The 5 most competitive ports in Africa
Country Port Rank Africa Rank World
Morocco Tangier Med 1st 4th
Egypt Port Said 2nd 16th
Somalia Berbera Port 3rd 106th
Somalia Port of Mogadishu 4th 166th
Egypt Port of Alexandria 5th 172nd
Source: World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence
Finally, it should be emphasized that the CPPI index mainly aims to highlight opportunities for improvement that would benefit the various stakeholders in the international trading system and global supply chains: ports, shipping companies, governments, etc.
